CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Only a week into their six-month suspension from office by the Ombudsman, Porac Mayor Jaime “Jing” Capil and nine other local officials were slapped with a graft charges before the Department of Justice on Oct. 16.
The charges stemmed from the illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub Lucky South 99 in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Porac raided by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group last June.
Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking prosecutor Ramoncito Ocampo Jr. said the charges resulted from a case build-up and coordinating conference among the PAOCC, the DOJ, CIDG, and the IACAT with San Fernando assistant prosecutor JT Leonardo Santos and Bulacan provincial prosecutor James Escalona.
Aside from Capil, the other respondents were Vice Mayor Francis Laurence Tamayo, business permit and licensing office OIC Emerald Vital, and councilors Rohner Buan, Rafael Canlapan, Adrian Carreon, Essel Joy David, Hilario Dimalanta, Michelle Santos, and John Nuevy Venzon.
According to assistant city prosecutor Santos, Capil and the other respondents were accused of violating Section 3(e), (f), and (j) of RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), principally in granting a business permit to Lucky South 99 from 2021-2023 despite documentation problems.
“Pangalawa, ‘pag tiningnan nyo yung application forms blanko pero na-proseso. Pangatlo, ang primary purpose ng kumpanya ng Lucky South ay outsourcing, hindi po POGO. So, labag ito sa kaniyang primary and secondary purposes,” he said.
Santos said Capil and Tamayo were named in the case as they were the ones who approved the business permit of Lucky South 99 even if it was not qualified. On the part of the councilors, there was “neglect of duty.”
During the filing, a witness was reported to have personally testified before the prosecutors.
“Eyewitness siya na nakikita yung mga personalities na yun pumupunta ng Porac, pumupunta ng Lucky South… Pero hindi on a regular basis,” prosecutor Escalona noted.
More cases to follow
IACAT chief Ocampo disclosed that additional cases related to the Porac POGO hub may come next week, “depending on the presented evidence.”
“Meron pa pong ongoing case buildup ang mga partner natin sa law enforcement, but particularly the CIDG and the PAOCC. And we are still crafting, evaluating yung mga inputs at ebidensya na pini-prisinta nila and hopefully baka next week, we will come up with the third set of cases as far as Porac,” he said.
“Because this is the beauty of the case buildup, hindi agad pinapayagan ang mga taga-usig na member ng panel na mag-file agad. Tinitingnan muna and ebidensiya kung ito ay tatayo kung saka-sakaling magkaroon ng litis sa ating husgado,” Ocampo explained.
Last week, the Office of the Ombudsman suspended the same officials charged in this graft case due to alleged gross neglect of duty, after the Department of the Interior and Local Government accused them of inaction and willful non-compliance of their duties that resulted to the continuous illegal operation of the Lucky South 99 POGO hub in Porac.
Punto! has sought the respondents for their comments but has not receive any response as of posting time. With media reports
